Nov 4, 2010

Face to Face with Lauren Booth

Lauren BoothBritish ex-premier Tony Blair's sister-in-law has inspired mixed reaction in the West after converting to Islam following a visit to the Iranian holy city of Qom.

Lauren Booth, a broadcaster with Iran's English-language Press TV news network, has talked about her "journey" to Islam on a Press TV program which will be aired next Sunday.

The journalist and human rights activist was recently in the Iranian capital, Tehran, to cover the Quds Day solidarity march held annually on the last Friday of Muslims' holy month of Ramadan.

She explains in details how she later traveled to a place which led her to one of the most important decisions in her life.

She said she "did not know that she was on such a journey" until she reached "a mosque" in the holy Iranian city of Qom, 156 kilometers southwest of Tehran. It was there that she "felt it" as she kept vigil all through the night.

As for what started it all, she reminisced about her encounters with Muslims, especially Palestinians in Gaza and Ramallah whose rights she has actively defended during much of her adult life.

The 43-year-old half-sister of Cherie Blair now wears hijab outside her home and prays five times a day.

Booth, who had moved to France with her husband and two daughters in 2004, returned to Britain after her husband suffered a sever brain injury following a motorcycle accident in April 2009.

In an hour-long appearance on Press TV's Face to Face program, Lauren revealed all about her conversion to the world's fastest growing religion and shared with the world all the feedback she has received from Muslims, non-Muslims as well as her own beloved family and friends.

The program will be broadcast on Press TV at 13:35 GMT, Sunday, November 7, 2010 and will be rerun at 19:05 GMT Sunday and 3:05 GMT Monday.